Driving and forming cast-in-place piles



March 3&126. mmm a J. H. THORNLEY DRIVING AND FORMING CAST-IN-PLACEFILES Filed Oct. 12, 1922 Patented Mar. 32, I926.

stares mmlfie PATENT @FWQE.

JOSEPH HARRY THORNLEY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

DRIVING AND FORMING- CA ST-IN-PLACE FILES.

Application filed October 12, 1922. Serial No. 593,990.

viding of improved means for both the driving of the forms for theconcrete and for withdrawing the same after the concrete has beendeposited in place. One method of placing concrete piles generally isknown as the British Journal method. This method consists of the drivinginto the ground of an iron point, cylindrical form and 'a' supportingdolly. The iron point is first placed in position and the cylindricalform lowered upon it. The dolly is placed inside the cylinder supportingit whilereceiving the blows of the hammer. The whole is driven intotheground in the ordinary manner of pile driving. Upon the requisitedepth being reached. the dollyis withdrawn'and the cylinder filled witha semi-liquid concrete. The cylinder isthen withdrawn, the concrete pilebeing left inthe ground. My invention in partieular is for an improvedapparatus for driving the cylindrical form and its supporting dolly andfor withdrawing the cylindrical form after the concrete has beendeposited.

My inventionconsists of; the novel devices hereinafter shown anddescribed and possesses numerous advantages which I will also indicate.

Referring to the drawing,

Fig. 1 shows a front elevation of a pile driver having my improvedauxiliary driving meansshown. In this figure the point, the cylindricalform and the dolly are about to be driven into the ground.

Figure 2 shows a front elevation of a pile driver after the drivingoperation has been completed and when the cylindrical form 1 is beingwithdrawn from the ground. The

device shown in this figure illustrates my improved means ofwithdr'aiving the cylindrical form.

Figure 3 is a side sketch of the pile driver showing the wholefran'iework. v

In the drawings I have illustrated my device as shown in its preferredform and I will proceed to describe the same in detail.

. My invention, however, is not/limited to this particular form but maybe used in other ways as can. readily be understood. Like numerals inthe drawings refer to like parts throughout.

In its preferred form a hammer 2 is carried upon a pile driver 1. Thehammer 2 is preferably of a steam hammer type. cross arm 3 is pivotalyattached to the head of the hammer as shown at 4. At the ends of thecross arm there are attached pulleys 5. Corresponding pulleys 10 areremovably attached to the bed frame 9 which bears the weight of the piledriver frame and also bears the hoisting apparatus 13. The cables 7 11run through pulleys 5, 5, 10, 10, and back tothehoist 13 which isadapted to operate the pulleys by applying a pull drawing them together.The whole pile driver and particularly the bed frame 9, as is customaryin pile drivers, rests upon the chocks 17 which in turn rest uponrollers 14. The pile driver by means of these rollers can be movedtherefore forwards, or backwards. In operation the rollers are supportedby running timbers 16.- In Fig. 2 the figures refer to similar parts. Itshould be noted, however, that pulleys 10 are not then attached to thebed frame 9 but to a collar 12 which is placed under a head 8' of thecylindrical form 8- and therefore whenthe pulleys are drawn together thecylindrical form is withdrawn u Wards.

In active operation my apparatus works as follows:

An iron point 18 for breaking ground is placed in proper position on theground. A cylindrical form 8 is lowered into place on top of the point18. The cylindrical form a ing dolly 7 is placed within the cylindricalform as a support for it. The steam hammer 2 drives the cylindricalform, dolly and iron point into the ground at the proper place. Duringthe operation ofdriving the hoist 13 may exert a pull on the cables 11 san enlarged head 8. A supportwhich run between the pulleys 10, 10, and

to the dolly 7 and the cylindrical form 8.

'The use of the pulleys in this manner fur.- mshes a veryusefulauxiliary driving force.

The pressure applied through the hoist can be a steady and uninterruptedpull as distinguished from the vibratory driving of the steam hammer.This steady driving is particularly useful when the driving takes placein built-up localities and near to other buildings. The vibrationscaused during driving by a steam hammer are apt to 1n] ure thefoundations of adjacent structures. Unless great care is taken this isparticularly true during the early part of the driving operation. On theother hand the soil near the surface is generally soft and in suchlocalities with my device the first part of the driving can frequentlybe carried on by means of the hoist and pulleys alone, without the useof the steam hammer, saving the latter for use when a greater depth hasbeen reached. The steady anduninterrupted pull of the hoist and cablesdoes not cause any vibration and does not injure foundations ofneighboring buildings even though the driving be carried on very closeto such buildings. In the drawings and in my description I' have shownthe cylindrical form 8 as provided with a ground breaking point 18. Thispoint is generally used but may be omitted without departing from myinvention as it is no part thereof.

The driving of the cylindrical form and supporting dolly is carried onin the manner described above until the whole is driven to the requisitedepth. The dolly is then withdrawn and freshly mixed concrete filled inits place. IVhen this has been accomplished it is necessary to withdrawthe cylindrical form 8. Under the old method this was done by variousmethods of directly applying a pull to the form to raise it. The resultineach case was that as the pull was applied to raise the form upwardsthe reaction from such pull was borne by the pile driver frame and thesoil on which it was supported. The soil at the surface after a pile hasbeen completed is particularly apt to be soft and the frame will tend tosink into such surface. At times also the force applied to raising theform becomes greater than the weight resting on the newly mixed concreteand tends to make the latter jump. This results in a gap bein formed inthe "concrete pile and causes are ing of the concrete in the formresultin in the intrusion of mud and soil. The resultant concrete pilethen is spongy and imperfect. In my invention I have overcome thesedifficulties by providing that the pressure upwards applied to raisingthe form should be transmitted not to the pile driver frame itself butdirectly through the hammer and the dolly to the concrete pile which hasjust been formed and through it to the firm sub-soil at its base. InFig. 2 I have shown how this is accomplished. That figure illustratesthe withdrawing operation after the concrete mixed concrete has beenfilled in the space 15. The dolly has been replaced on top of theconcrete pile formed in the space 15. Hammer 2 rests upon the head 7 ofthe dolly. The pulleys 5, 5, remain attached to the cross arm 3 pivotedto the hammer at 4.

But the pulleys 10, 10, are unhooked from their connection with thebed-frame 9 and fastened to a collar 12 which is placed and caught underthe head 8' of the form 8, When pressure is applied to the cables 11 thepulleys 5, 5, and 10, 10 are drawn towards each other and thecylindrical form 8 is withdrawn from the ground. The force inwithdrawing the form 8 is transmitted through the cross arm 3 and hammer2 to the dolly 7 which rests upon the concrete pile in the space 15. Thegreater the upward pressure becomes the greater the downward force bearson the concrete pile. The latter is therefore kept in place and theconcrete is uniformly and uninterruptedly deposited in the spaceevacuated by the withdrawal of the form 8. The withdrawal of the form iscarried on without any pumping. There is no possibility of the concretearching or becoming spongy or any tendency for the mud and dirt to rushin and pinch off a section of pile from the rest of the pile.

In the foregoing description I have con sidered my apparatus as beingused with a cylindrical form for the concrete mixture. It can readily beobserved that the apparatus can be used with forms of other shapes, suchas triangles, and such use would not be a departure from my invention.Likewise I have described the apparatus as used in the making ofconcrete piles. Sometimes it is advantageous to form piles of sand' andgravel or other material, and my apparatus is equally available for suchuses. My claims are not to be limited in any way to the forming ofconcrete piles.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A concrete pile forming apparatus comprising a frame, a hammer, apivoted cross arm borne by said hammer, pulleys attached to said crossarm, other pulleys adapted to be attached to said frame, cablesextending over said pulleys to operate same and a hoist connected to thecables.

2 In an apparatus of the character described, a frame, a power hammermechanism movable vertically with respect to the frame, a cross barpivoted to said hammer mechanism, pulleys carried by said cross bar, aform adapted to be sunk into and withdrawn from the ground, a collarcapable of engagement with the form, and cooperating pulleys adapted tobe attached either to the frame or to the collar to assist in sinking orwithdrawing the said form from the ground.

3. A concrete pile forming apparatus comprising a form, a supportingdolly, a hammer adapted to drive said form and dolly simultaneously intothe ground, and means for withdrawing said form from the ground operatedby pressure exerted through said dolly.

4. A concrete pile forming apparatus 2;.- comprising a frame, a powerhammer movable vertically with respect to said frame, a form and asupporting dolly adapted to be driven simultaneously into the ground,and means for withdrawing said form from the ground after the same hasbeen filled withpile-forming material, said means comprising pulleysattached respectively to saidform and supporting dolly adapted to sinkinto and be withdrawn-from the ground, a slidable collar engagingprojection on said form, pulleys attached to said hammer, co- Operatingpulleys adapted to be attached to said slidable collar, and means foroperating said pulleys.

7. The method of forming a pile comprising driving simultaneously a formand a supporting dolly, raising said supporting dolly, filling said formwith a pile forming mixture and withdrawing said form by operatingtackle so arranged that a lifting force is applied to the form and thedolly is pressed against the formed pile.

. 8. The method of forming a pile comprising driving simultaneously aform and a supporting dolly, raising said supporting dolly, filling saidform with a pile forming mixture and withdrawing said form, at the sametime transmitting the reaction pressure from said withdrawal throughsaid supporting dolly.

9. The method of forming a cast-in-place pile comprising driving with ahammer a form and a supporting dolly, supplementing said drivingoperation by operation of tackle connected to said hammer, raising saiddolly, filling said form with pile forming material, attaching thetackle connected to said hammer to said form, and withdrawing said formby the operation of said tackle.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

Josnrn any THORNLEY.

Gil

